The CDC advises pregnant women not to travel to an area where active Zika transmission is ongoing, and to use insect repellent and wear long trousers and long-sleeved shirts if they are in those areas.
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Murthy, who personally acknowledged everyone attending the class, spoke about the federal government’s Zika prevention efforts at a news conference after the class.
Of the three new cases, two are in that one square mile area but one is outside the area but still in Miami-Dade County, the health department said.
“This administration is committed to meeting the Zika outbreak in Puerto Rico with the necessary urgency”, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said in a statement.
“We are well aware of the importance of determining if there are mosquitoes that have the ability to transmit the Zika virus in our community and are implementing steps to identify them if they are in our community”, Monroe County Health Officer Kim Comerzan said.
University Health Network infectious diseases specialist Isaac Bogoch said the full range of health issues related to Zika still isn’t clear, and doctors will be closely watching babies who have been infected to see if cognitive problems emerge as they grow.
Zika is primarily transmitted by the Aedes mosquito, which isn’t found in Canada. The Caribbean island and USA territory has reported 10,690 laboratory-confirmed cases of Zika, including 1,035 pregnant women. (The literature now tells men who may have been infected with Zika to wait at least six months before having unprotected sex or attempting to father a child.) But two recent cases suggest the virus can hang out in a man’s cum for at least twice that long.
A World Health Organization report released on Thursday also mentions Canada as the latest country to report a case of congenital malformation associated with a Zika infection.
The health emergency declaration allows Puerto Rico to apply for more federal resources to help fight the outbreak on the island.
The Department of Health on Thursday also provided a breakdown of how the state is allocating funding to combat the Zika virus. That’s in addition to mosquito control budgets by the state and local mosquito districts. The state already has reported dozens more cases. Another $5.2 million in contractual services have been approved, including $4.9 million for local mosquito control.
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“Since Gov. Scott authorized these emergency funds, the state has been fulfilling requests made by local communities so they may take the proper actions to protect their residents”, said Mara Gambineri, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health. “Yes we need more resources, but we are not standing pat”.
